Padres should look to Bay Area teams for a new GM

Updated 11:56 pm, Tuesday, June 24, 2014

The Padres fired general manager Josh Byrnes on Sunday after just 2 1/2 years on the job. He didn't turn the franchise around in a hurry - a near impossible feat for a low-budget outfit traditionally buried in the NL West - and a new ownership group with exaggerated expectations made him pay for it.

Byrnes' short reign makes it easy to appreciate GMs on the job long term, overcoming ownership changes, mediocre teams and calls for change from the fan base, whether it's season-ticket holders or the lunatic fringe.

It's worth noting the Giants, who had the majors' best record June 16, and the A's, who now rule the baseball standings, have the longest-tenured GMs in the business. Brian Sabean took over the Giants on Oct. 1, 1996, and Billy Beane started running the A's on Oct. 18, 1997.

Not that it was always this good. The Giants had four straight losing seasons, including a last-place finish in 2007, and Sabean's job was in jeopardy. But ownership gambled with a two-year extension that July, running through 2009. By this time, Tim Lincecum had arrived and the team was on the road to a couple of championships - and a couple of more Sabean extensions, the latest through 2016.

The A's finished last as recently as 2009, amid a five-year run with zero winning records. Beane never was on the hot seat, having gained further authority with a small ownership stake after John Fisher and Lew Wolff bought the team in 2005. Beane got an extension through 2012, just as his made-over A's were turning into an AL West power, and another through 2019.

Through it all, Sabean and Beane have made for good player development debates (scouting vs. metrics), each probably leaning more toward the middle than most people think. Either way, it's tough to find fault with either these days, except for the Giants' last 14 games.

Furthermore, each has lieutenants - David Forst and Farhan Zaidi in Oakland and Bobby Evans in San Francisco - who have their fingerprints on their respective rosters and seem prepared for a GM gig, if the Padres are interested in emulating either success story.